Anti-sagging block means for metal closures



Dec. 3, 1968 A. PRONI 3,413,761

ANTI-SAGGING BLOCK MEANS FOR METAL CLOSURES Filed June 19, 1967 F U 9w INVENTOR United States Patent 0 3,413,761 ANTI-SAGGING BLOCK MEANS FOR METAL CLOSURES Alberto Proni, Via Molinelli 18, Bologna, Italy Filed June 19, 1967, Ser. No. 646,968 Claims priority, application Italy, July 1, 1966, 15,053/ 66 4 Claims. (Cl. 49-396) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A vertically hinged, swinging closure comprising a rectangular metal frame and a glass insert in the frame opening tends to sag. To restore the frame to its rectangular shape, block means are inserted in the clearance space formed between the edges of the glass and the opening in the frame, whereby the block means force the sagging frame to assume its original rectangular shape. The block means comprise blocks of various thicknesses, and several blocks may be assembled to form a stack of a thickness matching the size of the clearance space.

This invention relates to closures and more particularly, to metal closures, such as, windows and doors comprising a frame and a glass, or similar object, set in the frame.

The frame of a metal closure is usually made up of members secured to each other by spot welds, screws and similar fastening means to form a rectangular frame. Such construction does not give the frame the required rigidity. When a frame of the above type is utilized in a vertically arranged closure which is fastened to the supporting structure along one of its vertical edges, the closure sags due to its weight. While a close fitting glass in the frame opening would form a rigid, non-sagging structure, it is difiicult and expensive to cut a close fitting glass. The glass cut in the field is cut smaller than the opening to insure its fit in the opening. This results in a clearance space between the edges of the glass and the frame. Thus, the rigid nature of glass cannot contribute to the rigidity of the frame closure. The result is that the closure sags and the frame loses its geometrical rectangular form and assumes a rhornboidal form.

An object of this invention is to prevent the sagging or deformation of vertically swinging closures utilizing metal frames.

To accomplish the above object, small blocks made of suitable material are placed in the space between the glass and frame in such a manner that the sagging frame is brought back to its rectangular or non-sagging condition. The blocks are placed at the lower corner of the hinged edge of the closure, and similar blocks are placed at the opposite diagonal corner, whereby a force is exerted on the frame at that corner to restore it to its rectangular shape.

Another object is to provide blocks of various thicknesses to meet the various sizes of the space between the glass and the frame, which size can not be predicted, since it varies from closure to closure.

A further object is to provide blocks of various or the same thickness having means whereby several blocks may be coupled together in stacks to provide a block means or stack of any thickness required.

Another object is to provide a block structure particularly suitable for air-cell type insulating glass, that is, a unit made up of parallel sheets of glass with sealed air spaces between adjacent sheets. A commercial form of such glass is sold under the trademark Thermopane. The blocks have adjustable support areas and may be assembled or stacked as the single sheet blocks described above.

ice

Further objects of the invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following specification taken with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of a closure provided with the blocks of the invention to bring the closure from the sagging position, shown by the broken lines, to its original rectangular, non-sagging position shown by the full lines;

FIGURE 2 shows a side view, partly in section, an assembly or stack of two blocks;

FIGURE 3 shows the plan view of a block;

FIGURE 4 is a section through a block taken on line 44 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is an end view of a block; and

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of a block usable with an insulating type of glass unit which comprises multiple parallel sheets of glass with sealed air spaces therebetween.

FIGURE 1 shows a closure, which for illustrative purposes may be a window. The window comprises frame 1 having a glass receiving opening 2 and a glass retaining bead-like portion 3. As it is customary in the art, frame 1 may be made up of one or more members which are secured together by spot welds, screws, or other fastening means to form the restangular shaped frame 1 with glass receiving opening 3. Glass retaining portion 3 may be a struck out bead or flange integral with the frame members, or take the form of separate molding strips Welded or otherwise secured to the frame within opening 2. Glass 4, cut somewhat smaller than opening 2, is retained by means 3 and the usual removable molding means 5. A space or clearance E is formed between the edges of glass 4 and the frame members.

In view of the structural nature of frame 1 it has a tendency to sag when it is hung in a vertical position, as by hinges 6. The broken lines in FIGURE 1 show the position which the frame assumes upon its vertical positioning. The sagging or deformation starts at the hinge support and moves outwardly as the leverage due to the weight of the frame increases. The sagging would be greatly reduced if rigid glass 4 would fit perfectly in opening 2, and thereby exert a force on the frame to prevent its deformation or sagging. As shown in FIGURE 1, block 8 is located at corner C of the window in space E at both corner edges of glass 4, thus forming a solid abutting means between the glass and frame at corner C. Similar blocks 8 are positioned at the opposite diagonal corner D. The blocks at D cooperate with the glass to exert a force on frame 1 to restore it to its rectangular non-sagging shape, shown in full lines in FIGURE 1.

Since glass 4 is normally cut by hand, its final dimensions vary, and therefore space E may vary from window to window and even at different points in the same window. Therefore, blocks 8 would have to be of various sizes for full insertion in space E. To eliminate many individual block sizes, a small series of unit blocks of various thicknesses may be used for building up block means or stacks of the desired thickness.

Although various materials such as wood, plastic, metal, etc., may be used as block material, plastic is preferred. FIGURES 3, 4 and 5 illustrate the individual block structure. Block 8 is of elongated shape, having opposed parallel faces or surfaces 9 and 10 and ends 11 which terminate in semi-circular projections 13. Blind bores 14 extend from each of the surfaces 9 and 10 for a predetermined depth and knobs or projections 16 extend from the oppo site surface in axial alignment with the blind bores, as shown in FIGURE 4. While bores 14 may be of any shape, an elliptical shape, shown in FIGURE 3, is preferred for ease of assembly.

Blocks 8 may be assembled to form any thickness required by space E between glass and frame. Thus, FIG- 3 URES 1 and 2 show an assembly of 2 blocks. After assembling the required number of blocks 8 to span space E at a glass support point, the extending projections 16, shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 2, are cut off.

In use, the window is hung by hinges 6, and the glass is placed in opening 2, as explained above, the weight of the frame and the glass would cause it to sag and assume the rhomboidal shape shown in broken lines in FIGURE 1. Blocks 8 are assembled to fit space E between the glass and frame at corners C and D. If space E is small, an individual block may be sufiicient. The block assemblies r stacks are located in space E and retained in place by the frictional forces exerted thereon by the frame and glass and are also retained and hidden from View by glass retaining means 3 and 5.

Blocks 8 may be of different thicknesses or shapes. The thicknesses may be identified by various colors, or the different thicknesses may be identified by suitable indicia stamped thereon. Thus, the block may be used individually, or stacked as shown in FIGURE 2 to form any thickness necessary to force the frame back to its geometrical rectangular shape.

The above block structure is suitable for use with a single pane of glass. For the insulating type glass, which is usually made up of two parallel arranged glass panes with a sealed airspace therebetween, such as the Thermopane type, a block like that disclosed in FIGURES 3-5 would not be suitable, for it would be too narrow to support the glass over its entire edge width. Lack of full support may lead to distortion of the spacing relation of the two panes making up the insulating glass unit.

For use with the insulating type double-pane glass, the block arrangement shown in FIGURE 6 is utilized. The block comprises a U-shaped block 18 having base 19 and sides 20 extending therefrom. Base 19 is shaped like block 8 including bore 14 and projection 16. Sides 20 are provided with projections 21 forming spaces 22 therebetween for receiving the end projections 13 of a block 8, as shown in FIGURE 6. The spacing between sides 20 may be such as to accept the unit block 8 of FIGURES 3-5, whereby blocks 8 and 18 are complementary.

Thus, a block 18 as shown in FIGURE 6 may be assembled to fully support any width Thermopane type glass. Axis F and F indicate the spacing between the two panes of the glass unit. It can be seen that the block formation of FIGURE 6 may be adjusted to support any size of commercial available Thermopane type insulating glass.

In use, block 18 may be used individually or may be stacked by means 14 and 16 to any desired thickness. It is applied to a window having a Thermopane type unit in the same manner as illustrated in FIGURE 1. Before application, block 8 between sides 20 is adjusted as that axis F and F represents the distance between the centers of the two glass sheets of the unit. Thus, block 8 of block ,18 and base 19 provide full support for the force exerted by blocks 18 for restoring the frame to its rectangular non-sagging position.

If the insulating glass is made up of more than two glass sheets, additional blocks 8 are inserted between sides 20 and held therein by means 13 and 22, with each block 8 spaced to support each of the sheets of glass of the insulating glass structure.

In stacking blocks 18, base 19 of one block may also be made to align with a block 8 of another block 18, engaging its sides 20 since a block 8 is complementary to base 20.

While block 8 is shown with two blind bores 14 and two complementary projections 16 for stacking purposes, it is evident that only one bore and one projection of any configuration may be used to maintain the blocks in the stack properly aligned.

While the invention is described in connection with a closure, it may be applied to any vertically arranged device embodying a metallic frame subject to sagging and housing a glass member such as, mirrors, and signs. The closure may be a door or window. The above description is applied to a window for illustrative purposes only, since it may be applied to a door in the same manner.

As various changes could be made in the above construction without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that the specific embodiment disclosed, supra, be interpreted as illustrative only, and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. An anti-sagging closure means to support the closure in cantilevered fashion which is hingedly connected at a vertical edge of the closure, the closure comprising a metallic frame having an opening, a glass sheet of a size slightly smaller than said opening within said opening which provides a clearance space between the edges of said glass and opening, and prefabricated block means insertable in said space between said glass and frame adjacent a first corner and also adjacent a second corner opposite the first corner to form a tight rigid structure within said opening to reinforce said frame against deformation from its own weight, said block means comprising a block member having a base section, parallel sides attached thereto, strip means of the same thickness as the base section movable parallel to the base section between the sides and securing means between the sides and strip means to hold the strip means in desired positions at adjustable locations to contact the glass sheet.

2. A closure in accordance with claim 1, wherein the block means comprise stacks of individual blocks, each block having parallel faces, blind bore means extending from one face into the body of the block, a projections means extending from the other face and in alignment with the blind bore means, the projection and blind bore means forming coupling means between adjacent blocks of a stack.

3. A closure in accordance with claim 1, wherein the glass sheet within the opening is of the insulating type and comprises parallel spaced apart glass sheets having a sealed air space therebetween.

4. A closure in accordance with claim 3, wherein coupling means are provided for assembling several block members and the strip means secured thereto in a stack, said coupling means comprising blind bore means extending from one face, projection means extending from the other face and in alignment with the blind bore means and adapted to enter the blind bore means of the adjacent base section and strip means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,239,433 4/1941 Urbain 52122 XR 2,610,369 9/1952 Huizen ga 52-613 2,612,663 10/1952 Pearse 52-398 XR KENNETH DOWNEY, Primary Examiner. 

